Trick or Treat?
by wildcookie13
Summary: Some Arty and Holly fluff for you. "Some treat."


It was 9 o'clock on a cold winter's night at the beginning of November. And icy wind blew through the large grounds of Fowl Manor.  
>Artemis Fowl II did not feel the ice-cold breeze, in his room. His parents were at an opera, and they did not trust him to babysit his young twin brothers, Myles and Beckett, who were three. They had good reason- last time, the twins had tied Artemis to a table, stripped to his underwear, and after pelting him with caviar and chocolate spread- not a nice combination, as Artemis discovered- they had grown bored, and forgotten him. Butler had been in the gym at the time, and it was 5 hours before Artemis was rescued- by then, the twins had returned and were about to give him a 'bath' with raspberry jam, and probably some more caviar.<br>Angeline had not made any further efforts to make him 'babysit' again, and so the twins had been sent to a friend of Angeline's. Butler had been reluctant to leave his charge, but with Juliet at a wrestling championship, he had gone with Artemis Senior and his wife.  
>Now Artemis Junior was completely alone in the manor- at this moment in time, he was sitting in an armchair with his laptop, correcting a leading psychiatrist in his diagnosis of a criminal's mind. He was quite enjoying himself- the man was obviously a fool- when suddenly, something unexpected happened.<br>The doorbell rang.  
>Now, to give this story its full dramatic effect, I'll have to describe the doorbell to you. For the Fowl's doorbell was not an ordinary bing-bong doorbell, like one you or I would own. No- it was grand, large, and very, VERY LOUD. It went something like this: DING-DONG-BING-BONG-GOOOOOOOOONG.<br>Maybe now you can imagine why the great Artemis Fowl, super-genius, jumped 2 feet high in fright when his doorbell rang.  
>Quickly regaining his composure, he ran down the stairs to the front door. Well, that was his physical exercise for the day completed.<br>Artemis Fowl could of been expecting many things when he opened his huge front door. He didn't get any of them though.  
>"Trick or treat!"<br>Standing before him was Holly Short, startlingly prettily dressed as a black cat, Hallowe'ening! Artemis blinked in surprise, flabbergasted.  
>"Holly?"<br>She grinned. "Happy Hallowe'en, Mudboy."  
>Artemis looked at her quizzically. "Holly, Hallowe'en was last night. It's the first of November now." He immediatly regretted his bluntness, as Holly's face fell. Faeries probably didn't do hallowe'en like humans, he reasoned.<br>"Nice costume," he added quickly.  
>Holly looked down at herself. "You think so?"<br>Holly was wearing a tight-fitting black cat-suit (apt, thought Artemis) with little cat ears on top of her short auburn hair. A smooth black tail hung down from her back. Artemis looked her up and down approvingly. "Oh yes," he murmured.  
>Holly smiled fleetingly, and, in Artemis's head, the sun came out.<br>"Wasn't much use though," said Holly, trying to keep her tone light. "If i was on the wrong day..." She scowled at herself. _Stupid!_  
>Artemis shook his head. "You know you're always welcome- do you want to come in?"<br>Holly nodded and stepped inside, glad to be out of the cold.  
>Artemis smiled at his elfin friend- not his usual vampire smile, but a kind, reassuring smile (he hoped- he'd never been much good at those kind of smiles).<br>"It was a nice idea," he said, rather lamely.  
>Holly got annoyed at that- he would be saying "it's the thought that counts" next. But still, Artemis had gone out of his way- ok, five words out of his way, but still- he had gone out of his way to be nice to her. So she smiled back, and pulled him into a quick hug.<br>"Hey!" she cried, surprised. Then she said five words that would never, EVER be associated with Artemis Fowl II. "Have you been working out?"  
>She held him at an arms length, scrutinizing him. Indeed- Artemis had MUSCLES! To build them up like that in the two months since Holly had last seen her friend must have taken serious training- and, despite herself, she was impressed. "Who're you trying to impress?" she asked jokingly.<br>Artemis smiled and shut the door. On the outside, he looked a little pleased with the comments, a touch of pink in his cheeks. Inside, he was leaping about, whooping with joy. She had noticed! All those hours of torture and pain had been worth it, to see the admiration on her face.  
>10 minutes later, the pair were in the kitchen, and, after Holly had asked where everyone was, Artemis had related to her the incident with the twins.<br>Holly was laughing. A lot.  
>Artemis sat and glowered in the seat beside her. He was not impressed.<br>Holly had a brief- very brief- moment of pity for her human friend, remembering how kind he had been a moment ago; but it was just too funny.  
>"So," Holly gasped. "The Great Artemis Fowl was overpowered, stripped, tied to a table, and covered in chocolate spread and caviar, by a pair of THREE-YEAR-OLDS?" she lapsed into more giggles as he glared at her, embarrassed. "That I would like to have seen. Is that on your Interpol file? *hahaha* Didn't your new muscles help?"<br>Artemis thunked his head down on the table. He was tired of this- it wasn't THAT funny. "Got you're Hallowe'en treats yet?" he cut in, although it was slightly muffled by the table.  
>Holly stopped laughing. "That wasn't my fault!" she protested, "We don't do<br>the whole 'trick-or-treat' thing. We have a couple of parties, fancy dress, festivals, that sort of thing."  
>Artemis sat up again, feeling his control of the situation return as Holly continued her defending rant. She finished with the words "Friends don't make fun of each other," in a hurt tone.<br>He raised an eyebrow.  
>"Those were different situations!"<br>It went down. "Friends?" he echoed jokingly. "Not an LEP captain and her handsome, genius arch-nemesis?"  
>She grinned. "Modest too. Just friends."<br>Artemis Mused over this. _Just Friends. _It sounded so... final; like that was all they ever would be... He mentally shook himself. _Because that's all we ever could be_! he snarled in his head. He had to take control. He sighed aloud- his heart and his head so often came to blows over Holly.  
>Holly too, was musing over her words. <em>Just Friends.<em> Was that really what she wanted? She closed her eyes for a second, imagining what could be... Then she caught herself, because it couldn't be, and it would only cause heartbreak, and probably ruin their already-precarious friendship.  
>She got up, excusing herself awkwardly, saying she had lots of paperwork to do (which was true, but not the real reason she wanted to get away). Artemis looked sad for a moment, but then shifted his face back to 'impassive' and showed her to the door.<br>Impulsively, Holly turned around in the entrance, so they were back where they'd started.  
>"Trick or treat?" she asked.<br>Artemis frowned, puzzled. "Treat?" he tried.  
><em>What the Hell,<em> thought Holly, _live for the moment._.. So she did. She quickly reached up, and before either of them knew what she was doing, Holly and her 'arch-nemesis' were kissing. Holly dropped back down, gave a reckless, pretty smile, and fizzed out of site.  
>Artemis was dazed- not a sensation he was familiar with. "Some treat."<p> 


End file.
